In uk.rec.gardening Oz wrote:
: Tim Tyler writes

:I was comparing with "raw peppers" - as requested:
:
:``so do a taste bud test and tell us which are safest, raw red kidney
: beans or raw peppers''
:
:No species was specified. Why are you asking me about jalapenos?

: We were talking about chillies.

What?

I was talking about raw peppers - i.e. capsicum - as
apparently was the poster I replied to, since he
specifically used the term "raw peppers" above.

If you /mean/ chillies, /say/ chillies.

:People regularly eat raw peppers.

: Indeed, and raw chillies.
: Raw chillies definitely taste bad to the uninitiated,
: kidney beans do not.

No? You have tried eating raw red kidney beans?

Most large raw beans are pretty unpalatable. That is the main
reason why it is thought that our ancestors didn't consume them -
and is likey to be a consequence of their toxicity.

They may not taste quite as bad as raw chilles - but so what?
I never claimed non-toxic food necessarily tasted good.

Nor are chilles /that/ non-toxic. Chillies taste the way they do as a
defense against being eaten by mammals - and similar creatures. The
threats of their taste is not an empty one - consuming chillies causes
a range of unpleasant symptoms in the digestive track - and as a stress
response.

Indeed, capsaicin is classified is an "irritant poison" - and has been
responsible for human deaths.
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|im |yler http://timtyler.org/